What Haaretz expose on High-Velocity Tear Gas Projectiles lacked

By Joseph Dana December 8, 2010 | Edit

Haaretz is reporting today something which has been known for weeks, the IDF has illegally reintroduced high-velocity tear gas canisters to their arsenal of weapons used to crush weekly Palestinian non-violent demonstrations in the West Bank. This is in violation of the IDF’s own directives that such tear gas canisters should not be used in West Bank demonstrations. Manufactured and sold to the Israeli military by Combined Systems Inc., a United States company based in Jamestown, Pennsylvania, the tear gas projectiles have been responsible for countless injuries, destruction of property and one death. According to the company’s subsidiary website, the projectiles are not meant for use in open-air crowd control situations, but rather as indoor barricade penetrators. On April 17th, 2009, Bil’in resident Bassem Abu Rahmah was killed as a result of being hit in the chest with a high velocity tear-gas projectile. On March 13th, 2009, American citizen Tristan Anderson suffered numerous condensed fractures to the skull above the right eye socket after being struck with a high velocity tear-gas projectile during a demonstration in Ni’ilin. He suffered extensive brain tissue damage and is now paralyzed for life.

A high-velocity tear gas canister is seen during a demonstration in Nabi Saleh 12.11.2010. Photo by: Anne Paq/Activestills.org

The use of high-velocity tear gas projectiles for crowd control purposes proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Israel is interested in the violent suppression of Palestinian non-violence. The reintroduction of these tear gas canisters is part of a three-pronged military strategy to crush the Palestinian non-violent movement. This strategy includes increased violence against protesters and a policy of negligent use of arms, legal persecution of protest leaders such as Bil’in’s Abdallah Abu Rahmah and the cover up of criminal misconduct. In the case of Bassam Abu Rahmah, no criminal investigation was opened into his murder. To date, the only examination of the case was an internal inquiry by the shooter’s commanding officers in an operational-debriefing procedure. The findings and evidence collected in an operational-debriefing cannot later be used against those investigated in criminal proceedings. For more information, please consult the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee’s policy paper on military repression of the unarmed struggle in the West Bank.

PSCC-Under Repression Feb 2010

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVws1-As_hk[/youtube]

Joseph Dana was a contributing writer on +972 Magazine from August 2010 to December 2011. This is an archive of his work.

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TEST TEST GAL Our team has been devastated by the horrific events of this latest war. The world is reeling from Israel’s unprecedented onslaught on Gaza, inflicting mass devastation and death upon besieged Palestinians, as well as the atrocious attack and kidnappings by Hamas in Israel on October 7. Our hearts are with all the people and communities facing this violence. We are in an extraordinarily dangerous era in Israel-Palestine. The bloodshed has reached extreme levels of brutality and threatens to engulf the entire region. Emboldened settlers in the West Bank, backed by the army, are seizing the opportunity to intensify their attacks on Palestinians. The most far-right government in Israel’s history is ramping up its policing of dissent, using the cover of war to silence Palestinian citizens and left-wing Jews who object to its policies. This escalation has a very clear context, one that +972 has spent the past 14 years covering: Israeli society’s growing racism and militarism, entrenched occupation and apartheid, and a normalized siege on Gaza. We are well positioned to cover this perilous moment – but we need your help to do it. This terrible period will challenge the humanity of all of those working for a better future in this land. Palestinians and Israelis are already organizing and strategizing to put up the fight of their lives. Can we count on your support? +972 Magazine is a leading media voice of this movement, a desperately needed platform where Palestinian and Israeli journalists, activists, and thinkers can report on and analyze what is happening, guided by humanism, equality, and justice. Join us.

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